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Schine was born in Gloversville, New York to Jewish parents, hotel magnate Junius Myer Schine and Hildegarde Feldman.[5][6] He attended Phillips Academy and graduated from Harvard University in 1949.[1] He entered Harvard in the summer of 1945, took a leave of absence in the spring of 1946, and returned in the fall of 1947 after a year working as an assistant purser for the Army Transport Service. Though it was a civilian position, he wrote on his application for re-admittance that he was a "lieutenant in the Army," and other students resented his calling himself a veteran. Said one: "We were all veterans and his pretending to be one went over like a lead balloon."[7] At Harvard he conducted the university band and served as its drum major.[8] He lived, according to a later Harvard Crimson portrait, "in a style which went out here with the era of the Gold Coast," the years before World War I when wealthy Harvard students lived apart from their classmates in private accommodations.[9] College administrators denied his requests to use his dormitory room as an office and to allow a female secretary to visit outside of regular visiting hours.[7]

In 1952 Schine published a six-page anti-communist pamphlet called Definition of Communism,[10] and had a copy placed in every room of his family's chain of hotels.[11] Although the pamphlet contained many errors, Time magazine called the pamphlet "remarkably succinct."[3][12] The pamphlet introduced Schine to Roy Cohn through newspaper columnist George Sokolsky, and the two became friends.[13] Cohn at that time was Senator Joseph McCarthy's chief counsel, and he brought Schine onto McCarthy's staff as an unpaid "chief consultant". McCarthy era opponents of Communism sought to stamp out pro-Communist material. Schine and Cohn conducted a much-criticised tour of Europe in 1953, examining libraries of the United States Information Agency for books written by authors they deemed to be Communists or fellow travelers.[14][15]Die Welt of Hamburg called them Schnüffler or snoops.[16]Theodore Kaghan, Deputy Director of the Public Affairs Division in the Office of the U.S. High Commissioner for Germany and a target of the Committee, called them "junketeering gumshoes."[17]

In November 1953, Schine was drafted into the United States Army as a private.[18] Cohn immediately began a campaign to obtain special privileges for Schine. Cohn met with and made repeated telephone calls to military officials from the Secretary of the Army down to Schine's company commander. He asked that Schine be given a commission, which the Army refused due to Schine's lack of qualifications, and that Schine be given light duties, extra leave and not be assigned overseas. At one point, Cohn was reported to have threatened to "wreck the Army" if his demands were not met.[19] During the Army-McCarthy Hearings of 1954, the Army charged Cohn and McCarthy with using improper pressure to influence the Army, while McCarthy and Cohn counter-charged that the Army was holding Schine "hostage" in an attempt to squelch McCarthy's investigations into Communists in the Army.

The hearings were broadcast live using the relatively new medium of television and were viewed by an estimated 20 million people. Just prior to the hearings, Schine and Cohn appeared on the cover of TIME on March 22, 1954, under the banner "McCarthy and His Men".[20]

Schine and Cohn were rumored to have a sexual relationship, although there has never been any proof of this. More recently, some historians have concluded that the two were merely friends, and that Schine was heterosexual.[21][22] During this period, Schine was linked romantically with some actresses, including Rhonda Fleming and Piper Laurie.[23] Cohn's homosexuality later became public and he died of AIDS in 1986.[24]

The Army–McCarthy hearings absolved McCarthy of any direct wrongdoing, blaming Cohn alone. The exposure of McCarthy and his methods before a television audience, however, is widely considered the beginning of the end of his career.[25] Roy Cohn resigned from McCarthy's staff shortly after the hearings.[26]

After the hearings, Schine left politics and refused to comment on the episode for the rest of his life. He remained active in the private sector as a businessman and an entrepreneur, working in the hotel, music, and film industries. He was for a time a member of the Young Presidents' Organization.[27] On October 22, 1957, he married Miss Universe of 1955, Hillevi Rombin of Sweden.[28][29] They had six children, including Frederick Berndt Schine (1962–1996), and were married for nearly 40 years until their deaths in 1996.[28] Also in 1957, Schine's father named him head of Schine Enterprises, though in 1963 Schine's father resumed his position as head of the company.[30] In 1977, Schine described himself as "retired."[2]

^ abcdLawrence Van Gelder (June 21, 1996). "Crash Kills G. David Schine, 69 [sic], McCarthy-Era Figure". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-03-11. G. David Schine, a catalytic figure in the fierce drama that brought to a climax the chapter in American history known as the McCarthy era, was killed on Wednesday when a single-engine plane piloted by his son Berndt crashed shortly after takeoff from Burbank, Calif. Mr. Schine, who was 69 and lived in Los Angeles, died with his wife, Hillevi, 64, and their son, 35. No one else was aboard the plane. ...

^ abcd"G. David Schine". New York Times. June 5, 1977. Retrieved 2008-04-01. G. David Schine, an Army private who had been chief consultant to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which Senator Joseph R. McCarthy headed. ...

^"Mr. Cohn Resigns". New York Times. July 21, 1954. Retrieved 2012-10-19. The only valid explanation of Roy Cohn's resignation as chief counsel of the McCarthy committee is that he wished to beat the gun to avoid a certain dismissal. ...